Sunday, June 8th

Charlotte, Mark and I all got ready in time to go to breakfast at Copenhagen (of course).  We went back to the apartment to grab our stuff and do a quick clean of the apartment. We had assumed we could get a Bolt or a taxi to get to the train station as it was a bit far to walk with our bags but they kept cancelling. We were debating taking the bus (which also wasn’t coming) but then a Tuk Tuk drove by and we flagged him down and asked how much it would cost for him to take us to the train station and he said 30 euros, clearly expecting us to say no. But of course we said yes. He was really a tour guide not a taxi so we got a lot of facts about the city on our drive. Turns out we were missing one of the biggest festivals of the year, The San Antonio Festival, where anyone who lives in the city, including foreigners, can enter a lottery to have their wedding paid for as part of the celebration. They pick 16 couples and everything is included. It apparently goes on all night and that’s what all of the decorations around the city were for. We also found out why the taxis weren’t coming to get us–the road through the downtown area is closed on the weekends so it was nearly impossible for anyone to get through (including buses). Good to know.

The train to Porto was fine but it went half speed part of the way for some reason so we arrived an hour later than we were supposed to. The woman next to me was friendly, an American around the girls’ age who was just beginning to travel.  Once we arrived in Porto it was really easy to get a cab and then go to our apartment which was in a former industrial building and very modern, so a good contrast to the historic apartment in Lisbon. By now we were pretty hungry so we wound up at a mall close by where we had poke (this is what happens when we’re all hungry and can’t agree where to go!). We also stopped by a nearby grocery store for food for breakfast, then we met Genevieve at the apartment–she had taken public transport from the station, obviously more of a trooper than Mark and I! For dinner we went to the very hipster restauarant Flow where we had a huge cheese plate and then I had beet ravioli.

Monday, June 9th

Charlotte and I got up earlier than Mark and Genevieve (shocking!), had a quick breakfast at the apartment, and headed out to the Portuguese Stock Exchange, the Palacio da Bolsa, to get tickets for all four of us for noon. Then we hit up a chocolate store for coffee, which was really good. I had a mocha, of course! We were civilized and actually drank coffee in real cups at the store, like actual Europeans would. With some time to spare, we went shopping. There was this store, Mud, that had really cool wood things, including cute purses. I wanted one so badly, but I talked myself out of it because they didn’t really have one that would have fit my stuff. Mark and Genevieve then met us, and they needed to eat an empanada right then, even though that was the lunch plan for after the tour. Those two! The stock exchange building was beautiful, and the tour was good. We then tried to do the Rick Steves’ tour, and while we made it down to the water, it was so so hot we couldn’t continue. So us girls had empanadas for lunch while Mark got Chinese food because he can’t eat the same cuisine on successive days, much less successive meals. We also had this amazing invention–frozen dark chocolate-covered raspberries. So good. We walked around a bit more and then retreated to our air-conditioned apartment.

In the later afternoon, we had scheduled a beer tour. Along with us, there was a couple from Nebraska, as well as two actuaries (this actually came up…) from Indiana. I have to admit I did misjudge the Nebraska couple. They looked like a standard salt-of-the-earth never-left-their-hometown midwestern retired couple, but they were actually jet setters! Definitely shouldn’t have judged that book by the cover. The tour itself was pretty disappointing. The tour guide didn’t go around and introduce everyone to get us all talking, and because the way the seats were, our family was off to the side on the first stop, and no effort was made to integrate us into the group at that stop or any of the subsequent ones. The guide also did not explain anything about the beer culture in Porto, anything about the breweries we visited, or the beers we tasted. Also, the selection was pretty basic, two blonde ales, an IPA, a barleywine, and one sour. Plus, we were supposed to get more food than we did. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Tuesday, June 10th

We went to the do Norte Cafe for breakfast, which was amazing! After our wonderful meal, we went to the oldest bookstore in Porto, the Livraria Lello, established in 1906. It’s a beautiful building, and you actually have to buy timed tickets to get in and wait in a line and everything, although they do refund your ticket if you buy a book. Very worth seeing but also very crowded! Mark was tired, so he returned to the apartment while us girls went shopping.  Charlotte got a really cute pair of shoes (new, not thrift). Then we went out to try some port. We took the tram across the Dom Luis I Bridge to the other side of the river and then the Teleférico de Gaia down to the riverfront. That in itself was pretty cool. There were many vendors along the river, but while we were there, the police came and you’d never seen people pack up so fast! I guess most of them didn’t have the required permits. We picked the Quinta Do Noval Wine Shop to try port with a cheese tasting. The port was good, the cheese was not.

By now it was time for our Port tour at Graham’s Port, so we walked up and up the hill, and when we finally got there, we had to go all the way around to where the tour started. It was a lot of walking. While we were on our journey, this young Korean guy asked us if this was the way to Graham’s port, which we said we thought it was, and we both reached our destination at the same time. There were about 20 people on the tour, and Mark, who had fallen asleep, was still not there. Fortunately, he did arrive as they were showing the audiovisual extravaganza of how the Graham Port Company was started. Then we got to tour the facility and learn all about port. After the tour, we arrived in the room for the tasting, which they had set up for us in groups based on who we came with. They left the Korean guy all at a table by himself! So the girls went over and asked him if he wanted to join us, which he very much did. His name was Sun, and it was fun talking to him. He was taking a couple of months to travel around Europe because he’d lost his job as a concert programmer. He was also a surfer, which had brought him to Portugal. And his favorite band was Linkin Park, a band the girls and I also like (I had turned them on to “In the end” when they were dealing with rejection at CMT).

After the tour we said goodbye to Sun and also gave him all of our unused Lisbon MetroCards because he was heading there next. We all went back on the Telerico and then took the tram back across the bridge. We went to a good Indian restaurant for dinner, and then headed off to bed.

Wednesday, June 11

Charlotte and I got up early because we each thought we heard the other get up early. We used our extra time to get coffee and fruit from the nearby market, the oldest in the city from 1837, the Mercado do Bolhao. The coffee was good, but unfortunately the fruit vendor we went to took the opportunity to foist upon us rotten figs (they don’t let you touch the fruit, so she picked the basket). She was so friendly when she did it too. A pox on her house! We did get some good cherries from another vendor at least.

We returned to the apartment and roused the troops to go to the town of Braga. We bought the train tickets in person because the machines are dodgy, and we remembered to validate the tickets before we boarded, which was good because the conductor did check. Our first impressions of Braga were not amazing, because the train station is in the modern not-so-great part of the city. Fortunately, even though you can’t see it from the station the historic part of the city isn’t that far. Part of the old city walls still stand, and there were fun stores. I was able to get Mark a great t-shirt of a stormtrooper from Star Wars standing in front of the Arco da Porta Nova. There was also the Se de Braga that is the oldest church in Portugal and parts of it date to Roman times. It was added on to in the Middle Ages and had been the head of the Portuguese Catholic Church.

At this point we actually did some research (a wonderful thing!) and discovered that the top site in Braga is the Bom Jesus do Monte, a drive or bus ride away. So we went to a nice Japanese restaurant for lunch and then got a Bolt to the church.  The driver dropped us off above the cathedral, so Charlotte and I had flashbacks to Sintra, but this time we were actually on the right path. The grounds were really nice, and all the way down to the church there were these little grotto things with statuary tableaus of bible scenes, called the Sacred Way. The church was cool, and Charlotte and I took the steps all the way down to take the classic photo and then walked back up to meet up with Genevieve and Mark and take the historic asensor back down. Another Bolt to the Raio Palace (worth the 3 euros for sure!). Walked around the palace museum, got some gelato, and took the train back to Porto. We rested in the apartment for a bit, tried the Portuguese drink they’d left for us: Favaíos com Cerveja, which is Super Bock beer with Favaios moscatel and is actually quite good, and would be fun at a party where you wanted to serve something unique but not expensive. We went to the hipster area of town to Frederico, an Italian restaurant, where they were kind enough to make me spaghetti carbonara without ham, and we finished two bottles of wine so it was a good night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, June 12

Our last day in Portugal! We went back to do Norte for brunch because it was just that good. And it did not disappoint! Us girls went shopping while Mark went to the photography museum. I got both a cork purse and then later a cork wallet and let me say I am a fan of the cork. The wallet weighs nothing, even with cards etc. in it and it’s so nice for travel. I’ll never have a leather wallet again. We had beers at Baobab which were way better than anything we had on our beer tour! We had a simple dinner at Honest Greens, man I love that place although Genevieve was a bit put out that they slipped kale into her mixed greens. We also all had pastel de nata but I’m sorry to say they’re still not great!

 

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